


The Lady of Carterhaugh

by Holy_Rome



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Ballad 39: Tam Lin, F/M, Steggy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 19:17:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18597724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holy_Rome/pseuds/Holy_Rome
Summary: "I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hairTo travel to Carter Hall for young Tam Lin is thereNone that go by Carter Hall but they leave him a pledgeEither their mantles of green or else their maidenhead"~ Tam Lin Ballad





	The Lady of Carterhaugh

Once upon a time...  
  


 

There was a fair and clever princess named Margaret of the House of Carter. Margaret loathed being expected to sit inside and weave tapestries for her future husband. She loathed how her future was to marry a knight or a prince and bear his heirs. She loathed how she was nothing but a broodmare for the men of the world.

  
She buried herself into her studies. Her tutor and friend Edwin Jarvis, a scholar, encouraged her studies despite her Lady mother’s protests. “A lady would never gain a husband with a brain.” Was a common thing said by the elder Lady Carter.

  
“If there is one thing I had to chose about what I adore about my wife, it would have to be her mind.” Sir Jarvis would always say to Margaret after one of those argument. “Men are animals, sweet Peggy. Those that value a woman’s mind over beauty, those are the rarity and few.”

Margaret’s friends called her Peggy. Sweet, timid Edwin Jarvis, crazy, eccentric Howard of House Stark, and sweet Angela, a maid whom Peggy called Angie.   
  
Our story begins one boring day, it was quite cloudy, a bit of mist was sleeping out of the forest nearby and Peggy was bored out of her mind. Jarvis was with his wife-Ana was ill and Jarvis insisted on caring for her-so Peggy had no studies. Her mother demanded she sew because ‘ _those books will give you ideas’_. But her mother left a moment ago to use the pot. And those trees were calling her.

 

A strong pull to the trees of her dowry tugged at her soul.

 

She must go.

 

She dropped her stitching and ran as it crashed to the floor. 

  
Peggy tied her skirts above her knees to run easily and in a blink of an eye, she was in the most beautiful clearing in the middle of the forest. Wild roses bloomed and wild birds chirped. It was all so mesmerizing and filled her senses with peace.   
  
“How did you find this place?”     
  
Peggy jumped out of her trance and turned to see the most ...

' _Crikey o'Reilly!'_  
  
She had no words to describe him.   
  
His hair was gold and Lord Almighty, his eyes. His eyes were the bluest blue she had ever seen.  He was like the knights in the fairy tales she read when she was young. Okay she still read them.   
  
“M’lady? Are you lost?” Heavens, his voice  was like the choirs of angels!   
  
Damn it Peggy! Pull yourself together!   
  
“Oh, um. No. No I am not lost.”   
  
Why wouldn’t he look at her—ohhhhhhhhh!!!!!  Her skirts! Peggy untied her skirts.   
  
“My apologies. My mother raised me to respect women and to not look at a woman with her skirts raised until marriage.”   
  
‘Bless his heart!’  Peggy swooned. ‘No. Bad Peggy! You are strong, and independent, and don’t need a man!’   
  
“I needed to get out of my stuffy home.  I needed fresh air.” Peggy explained.   
  
“Your protector must not be very good at their job.” He joked.   
  
“No. They’re not. Perhaps I should hire someone else.”  Peggy jested back.   
  
“Well, may I have the privilege to protect you for the afternoon?”  He bowed.   
  
“You may sir. My name is Peggy.”   
  
“And mine is Steve.”  He said as his kissed her hand.   
  
He picked a rose from a nearby bush, cut off the thorns, and presented it to her.   
  
“For m’lady.”  He smiled.   
  
Peggy was at the edge of the cliff of love and she dived head first off it.   
  
...   
  
After that day, Peggy would sneak away to meet with Steve. With him, she was not Margaret nor was he Sir Steven. They were simply Peggy and Steve.   
  
Peggy could no longer deny her feelings to her self-appointed protector. He taught her how to sword fight!  Granted they started with sticks but it was still fun and an interesting lesson she would not get back home.   
  
She arrived first for a change and just couldn’t help herself. She felt an unquenchable desire to have one of the roses Steve always gave her.   
  
No a moment after she plucked the rose, a thorn pricked her finger and a single drop of blood fell to the forest floor. Peggy heard the familiar hoof beats of Steve’s horse and turned to see Steve look very pained and sorrowful.   
  
“Steve?”     
  
Peggy had no time to react because Steve pulled her into a searing kiss that left her senseless.   
  
“I missed you.” He said, kissing her nose.   
  
“And I you.”  She breathed.   
  
“Will you marry me?”  He kissed her again, gently this time.   
  
“Yes!”  Peggy whispered.   
  
“Right here, right now?”     
  
“I” kiss “will” kiss “marry” kiss “you” kiss “now.”  Peggy whispered as she gave him one big smooch.   
  
“I vow to protect you and love you forever. I will always ask for your counsel before anything important and minute. Not even death could separate us. I am yours and you are mine. To love, to care, to hold. None shall take your place as my love, my life.”  Steve vowed.   
  
“I, Lady Margaret of the House of Carter, now take you Sir Steven of the House of Rogers, to be my husband in the eyes of God until my dying day and beyond.”   
  
Steve kissed her and Peggy responded just as fiercely. She hardly noticed as Steve laid her down among the roses.   
  
...   
  
It have been a few weeks since Peggy was able to return to her and Steve’s spot. But the day she could, she waited all day.   
  
He did not come.   
  
That night, Lord Carter had a feast to celebrate Lord Stark having an heir to his lands. While everyone enjoyed the feast, Peggy felt ill and the need to vomit became too strong.   
  
“Margaret, my daughter,” Lord Carter asked in front of the entire gathering. “Are you with child?”     
  
Peggy could not deny she had missed her monthly bleeding. She held her head high and did not deny it.  This was her and Steve’s child and the child is not going to be a bastard. Why should she be ashamed.

 

“Why yes. Yes I am.” Peggy smiled and sipped her tea. There were gasps and Peggy felt satisfaction when her mother fainted.   
  
Lord Carter was enraged. “Were you raped by one of the knights?!?”

 

‘ _How dare he imply I’d sleep with his knights!’_ Peggy though icily.   
  
“I was not raped by any of your knights father. I willingly had sexual intercourse with my husband.”  Peggy smiled a little when Jarvis smacked his forehead.

 

Howard on the other hand did not bother to hid his laughter.  
  
Lord Carter however, had no words.   
  
No really knew how to react.   
  
Lady Margaret Carter- who strongly opposed marriage to any suitor presented to her- was married?   
  
But Peggy needed to speak with her husband. Steve was not leaving her to raise this child alone. She tied her skirts above her knee and tied her hair back with a ribbon.  She was bringing Steve back even if she had to drag him by the ear.   
  
So Peggy raced to their spot. She remembered how suddenly Steve appeared when she plucked the flowers.  So she ripped her hands plucking rose after rose until she felt Steve grab her hands.   
  
“Dearest, Peggy, don’t pull anymore.”  Peggy sobbed as he tore his cloak to wrap her hands.

 

How was he so gentle with her?  How could he have left her? Was it because she could not see him the few weeks after their wedding?  
  
“I’m pregnant.”  She cried.   
  
Steve said nothing. He kissed her hands but continued to wrap them in his cloak scraps.   
  
“I’m really scared Steve. I can’t do this if you are not with me. Father will marry me to one of his knights. I need you with me Steve.”     
  
“Peggy,” Steve said gently.   
  
“NO!  You are raising this child with me or dammit all to hell, Steve I’ll make a poison tea and get rid of it!”  Peggy spat. Tears streamed down her eyes and broke Steve’s heart. “I will not bring up a child alone. You will help me or the baby is gone.”   
  
“Peggy, when I was younger, I was riding with my friend Bucky through the woods when something spooked the horses. Buck was the more experienced rider and he stayed on. I fell from my horse and into the arms of the fairy queen. She took me and made me a knight in her court. Eventually, time runs differently there, I met you. It broke some of the power she had over me. But she still holds my soul because I foolishly gave her my name. Now, every seven years, she pays a tithe to hell to keep her power. Tomorrow, on Hallow’s eve, I fear she will send me as a sacrifice.”     
  
Peggy sat in stunned silence.

 

“You must think I’m crazy.”  
  
“Is there any way I can have my husband?”  She whispered.   
  
“At the crossroads, hide there. At midnight, we will ride past. The black horse carries the Queen. The brown horse her second in command. Run towards Sarah and pull me down.”   
  
“That’s it?”  Peggy dried her tears.   
  
“No, my love. The queen will try to keep me. She’ll use magic turn me into a beast. But fear not brave Peggy, I will know you as my wife and will not harm you. Fear not what I turn into because I am your husband and the father of our child.”   
  
Peggy threw her arms around her husband. Steve didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. He held his wife and tried to silently tell her of his unending love for his fiery wife.     
  
...     
  
Peggy waited silently in the darkness. The moon was hidden and the candle Angie gave her had been blown out sometime ago.   
  
Then the wind went still.     
  
Peggy felt her heart race and her senses sharpen.   
  
Out of the mist, the fairy queen rode on a horse blacker than the night.  Followed by a brown horse, which was followed by Sarah, Steve’s white mare.   
  
Peggy felt her feet turn to lead but the fear of losing Steve forever spurned her on. She ran faster than she ever ran before and pulled her husband down.

 

A screech pierced the quiet night and Peggy’s head turned to the sound.  She saw for a second what the fairy queen truly looked like. She had five fierce and ugly heads.  Razor sharp teeth in each poisonous mouth. Sickly green eyes stared daggers into Peggy’s warm brown eyes.  Then the queen’s image flickered and she was a very beautiful woman with green hair and cold eyes.

 

Peggy tore her eyes away from the creature  and gazed at her husband; reminding herself of what she was here to do.  
  
Steve was able to give her a small smile before he was quickly turned into a hissing snake.   
  
The snake didn’t seem to recognize Peggy at all. Rather, it bit and hissed at her while Peggy held him close to her breast. Though the snake bit her many times, its teeth did not pierce her skin and Peggy held him tight.   
  
Angered, the queen turned Steve into a fierce wolf. Peggy held onto her husband’s new body and did not let go.  The wolf’s hot and smelly breath made her uncomfortable. His massive paws batted and swung at her chest and stomach, but he did not hurt Peggy.   
  
Growing increasingly pissed off, the queen then turned Steve into a bear but the result was still the same. Peggy clung to the beast and the beast growled and bit and struggled to get away..   
  
In one desperate attempt to reclaim her knight, the queen turned Steve into a white hot iron brand. To any other woman, it would have burned and scarred for life. But to Peggy, it was a soft and comforting warmth.   
  
Steve was free and the fairy queen defeated. Peggy took off her green cloak and wrapped it around her husband. Peggy placed herself infront of Steve, shielding him from the demon fairy.

 

The queen hissed and her eyes glowed in anger.

 

“Had I known I would lose the best knight in my company, I would have ripped out his eyes.  I would have eaten his heart and replace it with a stone. I should have turned him into a tree when I had a chance.”  She growled.

 

“I have won my husband’s freedom.  Now go to hell.” Peggy said cooly.

 

“An ill death may you die.”  The queen cursed as she faded into the night.

 

Steve clung to Peggy's skirts like a lifeline.  

 

“I’m free.” He repeated over and over not quite believing he had been freed.   Steve chanted the words over and over in a prayer.

 

“Come my love, let’s go home.”  Peggy helped him stand and led him home; her arms never once letting Steve go.  
  
…

 

“But you mother had done it.  Clever Peggy broke the fairy’s spell and won your father as her prize.”  Steve finished his tale of clever lady’s and spelled knights.

  
Steve looked down at his daughter, a beautiful dark haired girl with dark blue eyes and adorable freckles across her nose.   He kissed her forehead and laid her in her crib.

 

“Goodnight, my sweet Sarah.”  he whispered into her hair.

  
Peggy watched at Steve recount a heavily modified tale of their meeting, her heart felt as if it would burst with the love she felt for her husband and their daughter.


End file.
